Dealing With the Shame
Homeless people are starting to die in the cold around the country. Their plight is indeed a “national shame,” as President-elect George Bush said the other day. Unanswered by Bush is the question of what the country should do to erase this shame. Los Angeles is a leader in answering the part of the question that involves the most immediate needs of the homeless. The long-term answer is providing more housing for people of limited means. Until that day, the efforts of a handful of local groups are and will be essential.
Jack Brinson, 64, for example, found emergency shelter in one of the rehabilitated hotels on Skid Row after he was robbed on a downtown street. He was moving out of a crummy apartment building in Hollywood and was on his way to pay rent on a new apartment when his Social Security money was stolen. A retired office worker, Brinson had no other money and no place to go until he found help.
Angel Royal, 50, arrived by bus in Los Angeles two years ago without a nickel. She spent the first few nights walking the street. Now she has her own room at the Downtown Women’s Center residence on Los Angeles Street, and has enrolled in a literacy program.
Sixteen homeless families had already received shelter at the new Chernow House by the time it was a month old. Located on N. Breed Street in Boyle Heights, Chernow House is operated by L.A. Family Housing.
All told, about 1,000 beds in shelters have been added in each of the last four years. In addition, the Shelter Partnership of Los Angeles has created several programs through which companies and civic groups can help the homeless. A “resource bank” matches companies that may have unsold inventories of new bedding or cleaning supplies, for example, with shelters that need those goods. Another Shelter Partnership program provides an opportunity for service clubs or other organizations to adopt a shelter.
Shelters clearly aren’t the only answer. The Single Room Occupancy Corp. has rehabilitated five old hotels in the Skid Row area, and is working on six others to try to provide cleaner, safer permanent housing or rooms for people who have been in alcoholism or mental-health programs. The congregations of Leo Baeck Temple and All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena are financing rehabilitation of three other hotels.
Another group, the Local Initiative Support Corp., works as an intermediary to encourage corporate investment in affordable housing. It recently announced that 12 California companies will invest $10.75 million in an equity fund that will help create 300 dwellings in East Los Angeles, Pico-Union, Skid Row and South-Central Los Angeles.
Charles E. Minifee, who lives at the Florence Hotel downtown, stresses the importance of these efforts. Several years ago he lost his job after 37 years. Minifee, “going on 84,” had no money and no place to go. He found shelter, food and help in getting government financial aid through the staff of SRO Corp., which runs the Florence. “We need some more programs like this,” he says, “because a lot of people need them.”
